Inside the Braves with MLB.com's Mark Bowman

Trade market likely to heat up at GM meetings

How much will be too much for Josh Hamilton? Will a change of scenery help B.J. Upton put it all together and finally live up to his incredibly tremendous potential? Will Michael Bourn hurt the Braves if he does indeed sign with the Nationals or Phillies? Does it make sense to make a three-year commitment to 37-year-old Torii Hunter?

These are questions that will continue to be asked as the free agent market continues to gain steam over the next couple of weeks. But with Braves general manager Frank Wren heading to Palm Springs today for the start of the annual general managers’ meetings, we might spend the next couple of days learning more about who could be available via the trade market.

With all 30 general managers gathered together over the course of the next few days, there will be plenty of opportunities for Wren and his peers to talk about potential trades. So by the time Wren and his staff return to Atlanta, they could have a better understanding about whether D-backs outfielder Justin Upton is truly available. Or what it would truly take to persuade the Padres to trade third baseman Chase Headley.

Or there is always a chance of a surprising development.

While some might continue to hope the D-backs will give up on Upton like the Dodgers could have given up on Matt Kemp a few years ago, it seems more likely to anticipate the Braves completing a trade that has not yet been discussed in the public forums.

Few within the baseball industry seem to think the Tigers would be willing to trade highly-regarded prospect Nick Castellanos, who was recently moved from third base to the outfield because his path to Detroit is blocked by Miguel Cabrera.

Considered to be one of the game’s elite hitting prospects, Castellanos would likely not be ready to begin the 2013 season at the Major League level. But the 20-year-old prospect wants to play third base and the Braves are obviously wondering who they will position at third base over the next few years.

Odds are that the Tigers will hold on to Castellanos. But it would also be hard to imagine that his name will not at least be brought up when Wren spends time this week. with his close friend Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski.

‘Tis the time of year when you just don’t know until you ask.

When Wren arrived for the GM meetings two years ago, he did not have visions of immediately striking a significant deal. But by the end of the first day he was discussing how the exchange of a note written on a napkin had led to the acquisition of Dan Uggla from the Marlins.

Four years ago, countless hours were spent pursuing the possibility that Jake Peavy would be traded to the Braves. In hindsight, the Braves were fortunate that Peavy used his no-trade clause to prevent a deal from ever developing.

A few weeks later, the Braves acquired Javier Vazquez from the White Sox and benefited from the great season Vazquez had in 2009. Like many trades, this one was completed before hitting the rumor mill.

So while we might hear about some potential trades over the next few days, the ones that are completed will likely be the ones we never knew about.

What bout taking a shot at Bay I know he’s walking wounded but hes the RH bat we could use and put him in LF in Turner maybe the change of scenery he may need to come back to the days he was hitting in Boston. Yes Swisher is going to want too much and I think hes going to stay in the AL because of the DH along with Hunter so My guess is make a deal for Franklin Gutierrez from Seattle

I think Hunter is the fit. Maybe 2 years with a performance based option, not 3. He has so little injury time up until his 37th I don’t think longevity is really an issue. Great, great clubhouse guy. If we could put Torii in Left, Bourn back in center and Heyward in RF, we would easily have the best defensive OF in BB. Prado moving back in to 3rd is a steady hand. And with defensive magic from Shafer in OF backup they are deep. Swisher is the best alternative to Hunter in LF and might come a bit cheaper at a younger age. My guess is that Bourn wants to stay, if we match his deal elsewhere. There hasn’t been a lot of bellicose talk from Boras, which may be real good news. Ross and Gattis start the season with MCann still rehabbing, Betancourt might figure into the mix, depending on ST. We are kind of stuck at 2B because of another brilliant FA signing of Uggla by QTip. If we could unload Uggs , his salary and open a hole at 2nd, we could let Martin move back to his natural position and he and AS would be brilliant up the middle with room for a quality 3B. Don’t expect that to happen though.

I agree on hunter as long as its no longer than 2 years at 15-20 mil. I think his rh bat would look good behind freeman. I just don’t see us resigning bourn. Think we will have to trade for cf. I am very intrigued by gattis. I think he could be ready to contribute in of/c this season. I think he is a dark horse candidate to break with the team after st. Just depends if we sign someone or not.

I say unload Uggla McCann and Jair to Toronto for Edwin Encarnacion and Jeff Mathis. Put Edwin Encarnacion at third and put Prado back at 2nd and have Mathis be out starting catcher until either Gattis and Bethancourt prove they can hit MLB hitting.

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